The Trick of It

Összefoglaló

The "trick" involves writing a novel, an objective that eludes Frayn's academic narrator, RD. Having bedded and wed his pet subject, successful writer JL, RD also fails to see his "careful and sympathetic suggestions" incorporated into her new novel. His despised family even becomes the subject of her next one. The comic possibilities seem endless, but there's scarcely a chuckle here. (A remark about the "taboo against intercourse with an author on your own reading-list" is typical of the humor.) What's more, the characters are as bland as their initials. Frayn scored a hit with his screenplay for the British comedy Clockwise (1986), but Trick misses by a mile.